Penn State finally folds down the stretch in Rose Bowl loss

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USC Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold (14) passes against Penn State Monday Jan. 2, 2017, during the first half of the 103th Rose Bowl game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Darnold (14) gets heavy pressure from Penn State defensive end Shareef Miller (48) during the first half. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

PASADENA >> Leading up to Monday’s Rose Bowl, Penn State offensive lineman Ryan Bates was reluctant to accept the label of a “second-half team.” Life as comeback kings is tenuous at best, he said. On Monday night, USC knocked the Nittany Lions off that throne.

After saving its season with a handful of dramatic comeback victories, Penn State was beaten at its own game Monday, relinquishing a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter en route to a 52-49 loss to USC in the Rose Bowl.

The Nittany Lions (11-3) led the nation in fourth-quarter scoring differential this season, scoring 8.54 points more than their opponents, then were outscored 17-0 by USC (10-3) in that period Monday. They were undefeated (8-0) this season when leading after three quarters before Matt Boermeester drilled a game-winning 46-yard field goal as time expired.

“We weren’t able to get that dagger,” Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley said. “We put ourselves in position to win the game, we just weren’t able to get that final touchdown, that final drive to put the game away. We let them hang around. When you let a team like that, an offense like, that hang around, they’re going to come back and bite you because they can make plays at will.”

McSorley was equal parts brilliant and baffling in Penn State’s first Rose Bowl appearance since 2009. The redshirt sophomore quarterback threw two interceptions on his first two throws of the game. He also threaded near-impossible passes to receivers in coverage and eluded would-be tacklers to create plays out of thin air.

When he needed one last play, he scrambled to the right and underthrew a long pass to Chris Godwin that was picked off by USC’s Leon McQuay III with less than a minute to go and the score tied. USC kicked its game-winning field goal three plays later.

“We turned the ball over too much,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said. “You can’t turn the ball over against good opponents and have a chance to win.”

McSorley was 18 for 29 passing for 254 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. He hadn’t thrown an interception since he threw two against Indiana on Nov. 12. He entered Monday’s game with only five all season.

“I made way too many mistakes,” McSorley said.

Between the end of the first quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions scored touchdowns on seven straight drives to build a 49-35 lead. Penn State gained 211 yards in the third quarter but only 14 after. In more than six minutes of possession in the fourth quarter, Penn State had only one first down on 14 plays.

The Penn State defense, which had not allowed a second-half touchdown in three games, struggled to pressure USC quarterback Sam Darnold, who finished with 453 passing yards and five touchdowns while earning Rose Bowl Offensive MVP honors. On USC’s game-tying drive, Penn State was called for defensive pass interference on back-to-back plays, setting up Darnold’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Deontay Burnett with 1:27 to go.

After the touchdown, the Penn State coaching staff discussed on the headsets whether to stay conservative and play for overtime, Franklin said. But the Nittany Lions didn’t get to the Rose Bowl by holding back, he reasoned, and they weren’t going to leave it like that either. By night’s end, Franklin left the Rose Bowl after his eyes welled with tears and his voice shook at the postgame press conference. He thought of his senior class, the one that stuck through crushing sanctions to help return a once-proud program to an iconic bowl game, then the opportunity that got away.

“It’s going to be a long, steady, difficult climb,” the third-year head coach said. “As difficult as this year was to have, we’re going to have to fight even more to be able to sustain it.”

Thuc Nhi Nguyen has covered UCLA for the Southern California News Group since 2016. A proud Seattle native, she majored in journalism and mathematics at the University of Washington. She likes graphs, animated GIFs and superheroes.